Kennedy Clark and the Durango Demons transitioned into another season after the losses of some key ingredients from last year’s state-tournament side, and here they are again – yet another CHSAA Class 4A Girls Volleyball State Championships appearance at the Denver Coliseum. “We’ve worked really hard to adjust to (that transition), and we have done great, I think,” Clark said.

Steve Lewis/Durango Herald file photo

Kennedy Clark and the Durango Demons transitioned into another season after the losses of some key ingredients from last year’s state-tournament side, and here they are again – yet another CHSAA Class 4A Girls Volleyball State Championships appearance at the Denver Coliseum. “We’ve worked really hard to adjust to (that transition), and we have done great, I think,” Clark said.

Bigger.

Faster.

Stronger.

Durango High School head volleyball coach Robin Oliger wanted to test her team against larger and quicker competition in 2012 after another pool-play exit at the CHSAA Class 4A Girls Volleyball State Championships, the hope being that it would better prepare DHS should the Demons have the fortune to make it to state again.

The result?

Six of the teams on Durango’s schedule will join them this weekend at the Denver Coliseum, four of them in Class 4A.

So saying this year’s Demons are battle-tested would be a bit of an understatement.

Although Durango lost all six of those matches – against Cheyenne Mountain, Windsor, Valor Christian, Ponderosa, Heritage and Chaparral – the losses provided a measuring stick for the 17-8 Demons. And a lesson in speed.

“Front Range teams are fast. I mean, you saw Pueblo West this weekend,” Oliger said. “They’re just faster teams, and their competition, every match they have is a faster match.”

The most important lesson may have come against Cheyenne Mountain, if only because Durango shares a pool with the top seed, and they’ll meet Saturday in the two-day, four-pool, 12-team format. DHS dropped that early season match 3-0 but pushed the Indians to the limit in two games, eventually falling in three – 25-21, 25-21, 25-16. DHS faltered against the four-time defending champion on the big stage in Denver the year before.

In 2011, Oliger said the Demons had some trepidation against the Indians because they only had heard about their exploits, having not seen them play. Playing them in an early-season, low-pressure atmosphere showed DHS it could compete.

“I think that was really a good learning experience for us,” Oliger said. “For one thing, we came home thinking, ‘Maybe we are OK.’ That little self doubt that was there before the season started (to go away).”

It also was part of the affirmation process. Durango lost a key group of four seniors last year, led by Southwestern League Player of the Year and Division I recruit Sloan Lovett, and there’s always an element of doubt when a core of that quailty is excised from a roster.

But Oliger said a summer of playing together started the ball of confidence rolling downhill, and by the time the Silver Creek and Cherry Creek tournaments were finished in September, the Demons started to believe that this unit could keep that state tournament roll going.

And that journey made Saturday’s regional championship victory all the more satisfying for the seniors.

“We’ve worked really hard to adjust to it, and we have done great, I think,” said Kennedy Clark, daughter of Letty and Randy Clark.

But it’s not only the seniors along for the ride. Junior defensive specialist Gaby Razma, who transferred from Mount Assisi Academy in Lemont, Ill., said she’s delighted about the opportunity ahead of her new team – and that’s underselling Razma’s level of excitement.

“My school in Chicago, we never made it to state, so this is really, really exciting. I’m just soaking up the moment and trying to enjoy it as much as I can,” said Razma, daughter of Ed and Kristina Razma.

“My school in Chicago, we never made it to state, so this is really, really exciting,” said Gaby Razma, a Demons’ transfer from Illinois. “I’m just soaking up the moment and trying to enjoy it as much as I can.”

Steve Lewis/Durango Herald file photo

“My school in Chicago, we never made it to state, so this is really, really exciting,” said Gaby Razma, a Demons’ transfer from Illinois. “I’m just soaking up the moment and trying to enjoy it as much as I can.”